How Can I Locate Family Members With DNA Testing?

Genealogy has thrown its doors open to connect more and more people together. With new kinds of DNA tests that are available to the public, it is now possible to find your family with DNA! Yes, that's right! Now it is possible to search one's surname in a DNA database and locate family members with DNA.

Modern day technologies and advancements in genealogy have taken DNA testing to heights you have never imagined before. Whether it is for tracing your roots or finding our more about your ancestry, you are sure to find a DNA test that will suit your needs.

Genealogy is the study of determining the roots of an individual. When all forms of record searching and researching in family documents fails, DNA tests are the best way to go. In fact, DNA tests are the best way you can know about genetic or descent genealogical connection. If you want to find out your ancestral roots, it is a good idea to get DNA tests done on not only yourself but as many members of your family as possible. Testing relatives is an important part of finding out ancestors. In fact the more people in your family you can get tested, the higher the chances of success.

Tests to locate family members are easy and can be done at home though going to a private facility that offers such services is a better idea. The tests will provide accurate results regarding the person's ethnic heritage, family background and ancestral history. Tests can even have the capability of finding out new relatives and family members one never knew existed. There are basically two kinds of tests available for persons who want to locate family members with DNA testing. They are described as follows:

mtDNA Tests: This is the test that helps determine the maternal ancestral line of a person. The cytoplasms present in each cell of the human body each contain mitochondria. The mitochondria remain unchanged or changes very slowly and gets passed down from generation to generation, though only from mother to her children, male or female. So the mtDNA of you and your mother is the same, while the mtDNA of your mother and your grandmother is the same. The mtDNA does not pass down from the father to his child. The mtDNA test can be used successfully to find your family with DNA.

Y Line Tests: This test helps determine the paternal side of a person. In fact it is done only on male persons. The reason for this is because the Y chromosome only gets passed by males from generation to generation. Shared markers in the Y chromosome line indicate close relatedness between two persons. The Y line tests are also used frequently to prove paternity law suits.

Genealogists are busy doing constant researches in the genealogy field by to find out more and more ways to locate family members with DNA.